Santa Barbara - California Democratic Party Vice Chair Daraka Larimore-Hall issued the following statement in reaction to Marshall Tuck's refusal to disavow mailers promoting his campaign by featuring images of him, Newt Gingrich and John Cox, who Donald Trump just endorsed for Governor:

“Tony Thurmond has won the overwhelming support of Democrats for Superintendent of Public Instruction because he champions our progressive values. Marshall Tuck’s support is limited to ultrawealthy billionaires and rightwing thugs like Newt Gingrich and John Cox, who we see next to him in the latest independent mailer that Tuck has tacitly endorsed. It doesn't matter how many pictures of President Obama he sends out to voters. We hear both sides of his mouth, and we know the conservative agenda he is part of.

Democrats must be 100 percent clear on this: Gingrich, DeVos and Trump have outlandish education policies based on a warped view of the world. The fact that Tuck is okay with cozying up to some of the most despicable Republicans in the country speaks volumes about what his true priorities are.”